But I have this whole big ball of eerie coincidence and fate and nostalgia and, well, did I say coincidence, to throw at you.

Ricky Nelson was a 1950s and 60s pop star. Imagine Bieber times 10. A generation of America watched him grow up on a primitive version of "reality TV."

Nelson played his final concert in Guntersville, on Dec. 30, 1985.

He performed at PJ's Alley. The last song he sang was "Rave On," a Buddy Holly standard. Holly died in a plane crash in 1959, leaving Clear Lake, Iowa, and Nelson was performing a lot of Holly tribute songs.

After the show, Nelson and his band loaded his DC-3 at Guntersville Airport to fly to Dallas, where he had a New Year's Eve booking. Four hours into the flight, mechanical issues developed. The plane crashed. Nelson, his fiancee Helen and five members of the Stone Canyon Band died.

The Nelsons will be joined onstage by Pat Upton, who played guitar and was back-up singer for Rick Nelson for years. He owned PJ's Alley and was on-stage for Nelson's final show. Nelson had contacted him the week before the December 1985, offering to stop for a few shows by en route from Miami to Dallas.

Now, the "really strange" -- Upton's description -- stuff:

Last week, Upton was at home with wife Lynn, with whom he has four children and eight grandchildren. The phone rang.

"Pat, this is Frank from the Rescue Squad. We just dug up a pillowcase with your stuff," said the caller.

Authorities were dragging the Tennessee River, trying to recover the body of a man who had jumped from the bridge while trying to elude police. They snagged a pillowcase instead.

Inside was jewelry and some mementos that had been stolen from his home 16 years ago. Even items like the kids' baby teeth.

Included was a backstage pass to a Rick Nelson concert with Pat Upton's name on it.

I met Upton for breakfast Friday morning. He's a slight, unassuming man of 72 who apparently knows everyone in town, or at least vice versa. He still writes music and performs on occasion.

He grew up in Geraldine, where he and his brothers were in a gospel group. While in the Air Force, he joined a band that evolved into Spiral Starecase (the name borrowed from a movie of that era, and intentionally misspelled) that had some brief stardom in the late 1960s.

Upton later played guitar on Nelson's last album and Nelson asked him to join a tour to promote the record.

"It was going to be two or three months," said Upton as 1960s music oozed through the restaurant speakers. "It wound up being nearly four years."

Nelson was "what you saw on TV," Upton said. "I never saw him get mad at anybody or talk down to anybody. He was really a nice guy. I heard the (Nelson twins) the other day and they were talking about how you don't realize how hard it was. He was in the spotlight when he was six years old.

"He had a good career," Upton continued, "then he had a rebirth with 'Garden Party.' He did some great things."

On the night of that final show, Nelson asked Upton to fly with him to Dallas. But Upton was too busy with his club. He took Nelson and Helen to the airport, ran an errand, then returned and had one last good-bye.

I asked how he dealt with the emotions of that night.

"I just try not to dwell on it," Upton said.

As I left the restaurant and started my car, my satellite radio was tuned to the 60s channel. I couldn't make this part up:

My XM Radio was playing "More Than Yesterday." It was the biggest hit for Spiral Starecase.

Written and sung by Pat Upton.

Contact Mark McCarter at mmccarter@al.com and follow him on Twitter @markmccarter

Matt Wake, Huntsville Times entertainment reporter, interviewed Gunnar and Matthew Nelson last week as they visited to promote the upcoming show at Merrimack. Here's the video: